Belt package



Sept. 17, 1957 D. LARSON BELT PACKAGE Filed Feb. 12, 1954 United States Patent '7 BELT PACKAGE Andrew D. Larson, Maywood, Ill., assignor to A. Stein & Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 12, 1954, Serial No. 409,980 2 Claims. (Cl. 206-46) This invention relates to an improved I package for apparel belts, especially supporting belts for mens trousers.

The main objects of the invention are to provide a belt package of the character indicated which will effectively protect the belt from dust and dirt while nevertheless affording a satisfactory display of the belt for sales and other purposes; to provide a package of the character indicated which will effectively hold the belt in condition for display and which will also effectively support the belt and its buckle against movement within the package during transportation and other handling, thereby to prevent noise in the package during such handling and also to protect the belt, its buckle and also the enclosing package structure against damage which could result from relative movement of the goods in the package; to provide a package of the character indicated which will be easily adaptable to the packaging and effective holding of belts of various widths while maintaining a predetermined outside package width common to the packages for all belt widths; to provide a package structure of the character indicated embodying relatively simple elements which may easily be made by conventional equipment; and in general it is the object of the invention to provide an improved belt package of, the character indicated.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and the accompanying drawing in which there is illustrated a belt package embodying a selected form of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figures 1 and 2 are top 'and side elevational views respectively;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view on the vertical plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a main container part of the package with an associated element only fragmentarily shown;

Figure 5 is a cross-section on the line 5-5 of Figure'2; and

Figures 6 and 7 are plan views of blanks from which parts of the package are formed.

The belt package shown in the drawing comprises a main container body 1 formed of suitable fiber or paper box board and a cover receptacle 2 formed of suitable transparent material which house a belt 3, including a buckle 4, the belt being coiled on itself with the buckle on the outside of the coil. A buckle holding member or cushioning means 5 is removably positioned in the package for temporarily holding the buckle against shifting during handling and transportation of the package prior to placing the same on display for sales or like purposes. The belt 3 is preferably held coiled by means of a band 6 of suitable material such as a paper strip having adhesively united overlapping ends as indicated at 7.1. In this instance, the band 6 has a top wall 7 which is slotted as indicated at 8 to fit over the loop 9 which is a part of the belt.

2,806,590 Patented Sept. 17, 1957 The container 1 is made from a cut and scored blank of the form illustrated in Figure 6. This blank is foldable on suitably provided score or fold lines so as to provide a central bottom wall portion 10, opposite bottom wall end portions 11-11 and upstanding end wall portions 12-12. The bottom wall end portions 11 are bent on suitable score lines to upward and outward inclinations as best shown in Figure 2, and the end walls 12 extend vertically upwardly from the outer ends of the bottom wall end portions 11 to which they are integrally connected by suitable score or fold lines as indicated.

External side wall panels 13-13 are folded upwardly from their integral fold line connections to the opposite sides of the central bottom wall portion 10 and these side walls 13 have curved or arcuate lower bottom edge portions 14 to conform to or to determine a desired curvature or other shape of the bottom wall end portions 11-11. At their ends, the side walls 13-13 are provided with glue flaps 15-15 which are folded inwardly toward each other (Figure 4) inside of the end walls 12-12, said glue flaps 15 being adhesively secured to said end walls 12. These glue flap connections between the ends of the side walls 13 and the end walls 12 serve to hold the container in set-up condition.

The upper edges of the side walls 13 are bent to form narrow top wall panels 16-16 which are folded inwardly toward each other from the opposite side walls (Figure 5) and to form inner side wall panels 17-17 which are folded downwardly inside of the container to define a belt receiving space having a selected width as indicated by the double headed arrow 18 in Figures 4 and 5. It will be observed that by changing the width of the top walls 16, the width of the belt receiving space 18 may be varied to suit various widths of belts without changing the external width of the container. This is a desirable arrangement in that it facilitates uniformity in a display of a plurality of belts of various widths.

The inner side wall panels 17-17 are also preferably provided with bottom edge glue flaps 19-19 which are folded inwardly toward each other as shown in=Figure 5 and adhesively bonded to the bottom panel 10 of the container to effectively hold the inner side walls 17-17 in the desired spaced relation to each other. In some instances it may be preferred to omit the bonding of the lower edges of the inner side walls 17 to the bottom of the container so that the normal inherent resiliency of the fiber board stock from which the container ismade will cause said inner walls 17 to resiliently bear against the sides of the coiled belt. However, experience has shown that when the said inner walls are secured in place in the manner explained, a very acceptable and suitably rigid container is formed.

The cover receptacle 2 is preferably made of one-piece molded construction to include a top wall 20, a bottom or mouth flange 21 and upwardly extending sides 22-22 which preferably converge toward each other substantially as indicated. The mouth flange portion 21 is made of such interior dimensions as to fit with suitable snugness over the upper end portion of the container 1 so that the cover receptacle and the container 1 may be telescopically assembled as shown. To facilitate such telescopic assembly, notwithstanding such variations in container dimensions as normally occur in the practical construction of the containers, the end walls of the mouth flange of the cover receptacle are provided with pairs of internal, vertically extending ribs indicated at 23 which will bear against the ends of the container body while allowing at least slight clearance between said cover receptacle ends and the container intermediate said ribs. In some instances When the parts fit tightly together the ribs may easily embed themselves in the container without objectionably distorting the container. Hence, the cover receptacle may have a good friction fit on the container so as to be retained thereon throughout a fairly wide variation in the outside dimensions of the upper end portion of the container body. ,r i l When the belt 3 is coiled upon itself and fitted into the retaining band 6, the bucket 4 will be located at one side of said band as shown in the drawings. The uppermost portions of the belt and the buckle are not necessarily in engagement with the top of the cover receptacle although, in general, the upper portion of the belt on one side of the band 6 will usually contact the top of the receptacle cover as indicated at 24. However, the buckle 4, because of its usual hinge mounting in loop of the belt, will have a greater tendency to rest on the underlying coil of the belt in spaced relation to the top 20 of the receptacle cover. Hence, in the absence of provisions to prevent it, the buckle would be free to swing in the loop 25 to strike against the cover top wall 20 and against the underlying coil of the belt strip. This would create considerable noise in a shipment consisting of a large quantity of belts and such buckle movement may in some instances tend to mark, scratch or otherwise damage the cover structure and possibly the underlying coil of the belt and, in some instances, might cause damage to the adjacent upper portion of the main container body, especially if the belt coils which support the buckle do not rise above the container top walls in the manner shown in the drawings. It should be understood that the belt coils are not necessarily uniform in character and that in some instances the position of the coils under the buckle may be such that the buckle may rest on the top walls 16-16 of the container.

To prevent such movement of the buckle during handling and transportation of the packages, the aforementioned cushioning means 5 is provided. This cushioning means or buckle holder 5 is made from suitable fiber or box board material in the form of the blank shown in Figure 7. Said buckle holder comprises a tab portion 26, atop portion 27 and an end portion 28 which is rebendable under the top portion 27, as best shown in Figures 2 and 3, to provide a more or less resilient cushion or pad intermediate the buckle 4 and the overlying portion of the cover top wall 20. This buckle holder is positioned in the container by inserting its tab portion 26 between the adjacent end wall 12 (including the attached glue flaps 15) and the adjacent ends 29 of the top walls 16 as indicated in Figure 4.

When the store keeper places the package on display, he removes the cover 2 and then removes the buckle holder 5 by simply withdrawing it from the end of the container, the cover being then replaced. The buckle is then fully visible through the transparent cover structure as is also a substantial portion of the length of the belt strap. The band 6 provides convenient areas on its top wall 7 on opposite sides of the loop 9 for the display of data such as the size of the belt, the price thereof, and the trade-mark of the manufacturer or dealer. Hence, the prospective customer mayreadily see the character of the belt and relevant data pertaining to the prospective purchase.

The described package may be modified in various respects while retaining the structural principles embodied therein and as referred to in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A container comprising means defining the bottom, sides and end walls of an open-top receptacle, said side wall defining means comprising a pair of panels extending upwardly from said bottoms with each panel being folded on itself along a pair of spaced, parallel lines adjacent its mid-portion to thereby present spaced-apart inner and outer side wall portions, means defining a cover telescopically engaging the outer side walls and ends of said receptacle with the top of said cover disposed in spaced relation to the upper edges of said side wall portions, and a resilient pad hingedly supported on one end of the receptacle and having a portion thereof in position between the top of said cover and the upper edges of said side wall portions.

2. A container comprising flexible means defining the bottom, sides and end walls of an elongated, open-top receptacle, said side wall defining means comprising a pair of panels extending upwardly from said bottom with each panel being folded on itself along a pair of spaced parallel lines adjacent its mid-portion to thereby present spaced-apart inner and outer side wall portions, means defining a cover adapted to telescopically engage the outer side walls and ends of said receptacle, with the end portions of said cover being supported by said end walls of said receptacle and the top of said cover extending upwardly from said end portions in spaced relation to the upper edges of said side wall portions, and a resilient tabmember including a portion thereof removably positioned between one of said end walls and the adjacent ends of said side walls and a folded-over tab portion which extends inwardly of said one end wall and between the top of said cover and the upper portion of said side walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,165,979 Knothe Dec. 28, 1915 1,454,552 Mason May 8, 1923 1,906,622 Kondolf May 2, 1933 2,116,513 Frankenstein May 10, 1938 2,134,427 Biderman Oct. 25, 1938 2,330,448 Reaume Sept. 28, 1943 2,347,422 Loth Apr. 25, 1944 2,453,920 Kysel-a Nov. 16, 1948 2,498,757 High Feb. 28, 1950 2,629,487 Kells et a1 Feb. 24, 1953 2,640,643 Frankenstein June 2, 1953 2,670,123 Frankenstein Feb. 23, 1954 

